PUERTO RICANS PISSED OFF

'Fuera!' Latinos protest Trump in battleground Pennsylvania city

Agence France-Presse
October 30, 2024

Supporters of US Vice President Kamala Harris, including Puerto Rican Americans, protested near a Donald Trump rally in Allentown, a minority-majority city in Pennsylvania (SAMUEL CORUM/AFP)

The chants Tuesday in the largely Hispanic Pennsylvania city of Allentown came from a small but proud and passionate group of protesters outside Donald Trump's latest campaign rally: "Immigrants make America great!"

The refrain -- a play on Trump's "Make American Great Again" slogan -- along with pointed calls of "Trump, fuera!" (Trump, go away) reflect mounting anger among Latinos, in particular those from Puerto Rico, after a comedian who spoke at last weekend's Trump rally in New York likened the US island territory to a pile of garbage.

"Latinos are very disgusted by this," 60-year-old clerk Ivet Figueroa, raised in working-class Allentown by Puerto Rican parents, told AFP as some 50 protesters gathered near the long line of Trump supporters waiting to enter the arena for the former president's speech.

"We are citizens, and he's referring to us that way?" she added. "How dare him!"

The shock remarks at Sunday's Madison Square Garden rally from the comic who called Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage" have reverberated across the American voter landscape with just a week before Election Day on November 5.

And in a race going down to the wire, the biggest battleground state of all is a toss-up, polls show. A shift of just a few thousand votes could tilt Pennsylvania either to Democrat Kamala Harris or Trump.

Which makes comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's remarks all the more startling.

They have galvanized Puerto Rican voters -- not those on the island, who cannot vote in US presidential elections, but the million-plus so-called "Boricuas" who reside in the country's 50 states, notably the seven battleground states likely to determine the result of the race between Trump and Harris.

- 'Changing their minds' -

Pennsylvania is home to more than 400,000 Puerto Ricans, and get-out-the-vote organizers have already said they see evidence that the controversy is turning Latinos against the Republican former president, even as Trump claims he has been making inroads with the traditionally Democratic-leaning bloc.

"We have heard people actually changing their minds, who are Republicans and now because of this are going to vote for Kamala," said Armando Jimenez, a deputy organizing director for Make the Road Action Pennsylvania.

Tuesday's protest was not the flashpoint it could have been. Many Puerto Ricans stayed home out of fear or nerves, and road closures suppressed the protest attendance, Jimenez argued. It was also a weekday, when people were at work.

But the demonstration -- with Trump supporters occasionally trying to shout down protesters as they marched toward the venue -- highlighted the potential influence of a scorned voter demographic.

"We're the largest-growing voting bloc in the whole country, so anything can really sway the election if we continue to be attacked," Jimenez said.

For Puerto Rican Michelle Fernandez, a devout Trump supporter standing in line at the rally, the comedian's remarks were water off a duck's back.

"It didn't touch a nerve with me," the 54-year-old told AFP alongside her husband, both of whom held "Boricuas con Trump" placards, explaining that the remark "didn't come out of Trump's mouth."

"The comment was ugly, but the comment is not the deciding choice for me," Fernandez, a private sector worker, told AFP. More important to her: undocumented immigration, crime, and the US economy.

While she is more than ready to see a woman win the White House, Harris "has shown no leadership at all in my eye."

As Garbage-gate raged, Trump allies warmed up the arena crowd before the headliner arrived. They included Puerto Ricans like Tim Ramos, a former mayoral candidate in Allentown.

The current mayor, Democrat Matthew Tuerk, was outside at the protest, venting over Hinchcliffe's garbage remark.

"It's an insult to the people here in Allentown!" he told dozens of protesters.


"They're making a closing argument of grievances, about 'the enemy within,'" he said, paraphrasing Trump's own provocative words about Americans he perceives as evil.

"You know who he means? Us. He's talking about us."

Nearby a lone man held up a sign: "Make Racism Shameful Again."


Figueroa, the Allentown native, held her own handmade sign featuring an image of a garbage can.

"Nov 5 is trash day," the sign read. "Let's put you where you belong."

Singer Nicky Jam yanks Trump endorsement over 'island of garbage' Puerto Rico joke

Sarah K. Burris
October 30, 2024 
RAW STORY


Reggaeton artist Nicky Jam pulled his endorsement of former President Donald Trump on Wednesday after a comedian at his Madison Square Garden rally called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage."

Nicky Jam, whose father is Puerto Rican, renounced his support for Trump in an Instagram video post, CBS News political campaign reporter Nidia Cavazos was among the first to announce.

"The reggaeton star said he once supported Trump with the economy being top of mind," Cavazos wrote, "but will not tolerate disrespect toward Puerto Rico.

In the video, Jam addressed his 43.5 million followers in Spanish.

MSNBC reported that Jam said “never in his life” did he think “a comedian would appear to criticize and talk badly about my [Puerto Rico]. That’s why I’m renouncing my support for Donald Trump and stepping away from any political conversation. Puerto Rico deserves respect.”

His caption for the video was of the flag of Puerto Rico.

The Reggaeton star reportedly scrubbed his presidential endorsement off social media in September after former President Donald Trump mistakenly introduced the singer as "hot" and used the pronoun "she."

Now, Jam is pulling the endorsement entirely.

See the video below or at the link here.

'They are switching their vote!' Analyst says music star's decision is a fiasco for Trump

Matthew Chapman
October 30, 2024 
RAW STORY

Donald Trump (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP)

Democratic strategist Maria Cardona warned longtime Trump insider Matt Mowers on CNN to ignore the Puerto Rican influencers abandoning former President Donald Trump at his own peril.

The latest to do so is Reggaeton superstar Nicky Jam, who on Wednesday walked back his endorsement of Trump over a racist comedy routine at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally in which a comedian called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage." Jam's endorsement has already faced questions after he scrubbed it off social media last month when Trump mistakenly thought he was a woman and called him "hot."

"Obviously, he's not a household name, but in some communities, he's a very popular artist who means a lot," said CNN anchor Boris Sanchez. "What's the significance of him coming out now and withdrawing his endorsement of Donald Trump?"

Mowers insisted that it wouldn't do very much.

"I get it. Six days out from election, Democrats are going to try to spin whatever they can to try to say, 'Look, it was really about the Puerto Rican community in Pennsylvania' ... if you look at the vast majority of polling, voters are not undecided right now and yes, maybe there's going to be one or two people who will flip. I guarantee if we found a couple of anecdotes, we could find some on the other side, at the end of the day though this is a very baked-in electorate, voters have made up their minds. They're not going to change it in the final six days, regardless of what you say."

Indeed, he added, "I think President Biden's comments last night calling half of Americans garbage is going to resonate ... where they could be more motivated to show up as a result of the fact that they feel like they were attacked by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris."

Cardona told him that was wishful thinking.

"What I'm hearing from what Nicky Jam did, and from what I'm hearing what voters are saying, they are switching their votes," she said. "In Pennsylvania, 500,000 Puertorriqueños, more in the battleground states. In Nevada, John King had a piece about Latinos, not Puertorriqueños, Latinos who were saying, 'That didn't just p--- off Puertorriqueños, it p---ed the Latino community off, because you're talking about us.' And people are calling into my show, Latino DJ, saying they are switching their vote. So if you think that that has no effect, keep thinking that. We'll talk on Tuesday."

Watch the video below or at the link here

Latino evangelical voters torn between their faith and harsh rhetoric around immigration


Pastor Arturo Laguna speaks during services at Casa de Adoracion, 

Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Chris Coduto)

BY DEEPA BHARATH
, October 30, 2024

The Rev. Arturo Laguna leads a largely immigrant church of about 100 followers in Phoenix. His job as a pastor, he says, gets complicated come election season.

Laguna’s church, Casa de Adoracion, is in Arizona — one of seven closely-watched swing states that could possibly decide the next president. It is also a microcosm of the larger Latino evangelical Christian community in the U.S.

The soft-spoken Laguna says, for the members of his congregation, voting is “not an intellectual issue.”

“It’s a matter of faith and spirituality,” he said. “We’re in a complicated moment because, on the one hand, we are against abortion, and on the other, we are concerned about the sharp rhetoric around immigration and lack of reform. It’s a difficult choice.”

This is not a new dilemma for Latino evangelicals, who are growing in numbers even as mainline white Protestant denominations have steadily declined. Latino evangelicals are an influential voting bloc. Both parties have tried to appeal to them over the past two election cycles — neither with remarkable success — according to faith and community leaders.

A 2022 Pew Research Center survey showed 15% of Latinos in the U.S identify as evangelical Protestants. Among all American evangelicals, they are the fastest-growing group. About half of Latino evangelicals identified as Republicans or as independents who lean right, while 44% identified as Democrats or as independents leaning left.

While U.S. Latinos generally favor Democratic candidates, a majority of Latino evangelicals backed Donald Trump in 2020. According to AP Votecast, about six in 10 Latino evangelical voters supported Trump in 2020, while four in 10 supported Biden.

A Pew survey released last month showed that about two-thirds of Latino Protestants planned to back Trump this year, while about two-thirds of Hispanic Catholics and religiously unaffiliated Hispanics said they were supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.

Agustin Quiles, president and founder of Mission Talk, a Florida-based Latino Christian social justice organization, says conflicting priorities leave some Latino evangelicals feeling politically homeless. Some are torn between their conservative views on social issues such as abortion and their desire to see immigration and criminal justice reform, he said.

While many are offended by Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, Quiles added, Democrats still haven’t figured out how to have conversations with the community about issues such as abortion.

“So there is a lot of silence among Latino evangelicals right now,” he said. “That does not mean they are not going to vote. There is just a lot of discontent.”

To understand Latino evangelicals, it is important to understand their origins, said Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, a scholar of the Association of Hispanic Theological Association. The word “evangelico” pertains to Protestants or those who are not Catholic, which includes a wide swath of churches, cultures and traditions, she said.

“When immigrants come here and have to reestablish themselves, the Protestant, Pentecostal and mainline churches become spaces where people create a new sense of community and family,” Conde-Frazier said. “People are trying to understand what life is supposed to be in this country.”

With white Protestantism in decline and different mainline denominations vying for the loyalty of these communities, second-generation Latino Christians became more a part of the dominant culture and often embraced the fervor of the white evangelical church, she said.

“Latino churches, in order to gain a sense of power and acceptance, began to align with (white conservative) evangelical churches in the U.S., moving away from their ‘evangelico’ roots,” Conde-Frazier said. Now, she added, some Latino evangelicals find themselves increasingly at odds with their white counterparts because they are pro-immigration.

Quiles says in white evangelical churches where Latinos, including undocumented immigrants, are growing in numbers, there is palpable dissonance between what is said in the pulpit and how those in the pews perceive it.

“Just because a pastor pushes anti-immigrant agenda, that does not mean members are receiving it,” he said. “They selectively take what they want from the teaching.”

The Rev. Juan Garcia, who leads a 100-strong Hispanic ministry at the First Baptist Church in Newport News, Virginia, said the word “evangelico” represents the Gospel to him. He says the “evangelical” label feels tainted because of its affiliation with one political party.

“Jesus is not Democrat or Republican,” he said. “Some see their Christian values being represented by the Republican party and others see some of their values represented by the Democrats. But neither party is Christian in essence.”

Garcia feels that sense of political homelessness, too.

“I have a candidate I may vote for, but no political party I’d like to belong to,” he said. “The most important value we as Christians must live by is love — love our neighbors, the poor, those fleeing persecution.”

Garcia said he has his “opinions and inclinations” but doesn’t view the candidate he favors as flawless. He warns his flock: “If one is the anti-Christ, the other is not Christ.”

The Rev. Jacqueline Tavarez, pastor of the Pentecostal Church of God in Raleigh, North Carolina, says her diverse congregation cares more about the values a political party represents rather than the face or the voice of the party.

“Our community doesn’t care about the politics,” she said. “They care about laws that affect our communities in terms of jobs, opportunities, education. And they view abortion and transgender laws as an attack on family values. When they see the ballot, they don’t see Trump or (Harris). They see what the party supports and how the community is going to fare under a candidate.”

The Rev. Lori Tapia, the Arizona-based national pastor and president of the Obra Hispana, Disciples of Christ, said politics is not typically integrated into the life of the Latino evangelical church. Unlike white evangelical congregations, political engagement happens more organically, she said.

“Here, the compassion piece is always stronger and there is a desire to see leaders who will prioritize compassionate politics,” Tapia said. “There is also frustration at how slow progress is on critical issues. Anyone can pitch a story or a political campaign. But where is it being manifested in the lives of people who are struggling?”

Bishop Angel Marcial, who leads the Church of God that oversees more than 15,000 churches, says some of the main issues for his congregants are healthcare education, public safety and housing.

“Voting gives you respect in this country and it brings opportunities for marginalized communities,” he said. “As pastors, we don’t tell people whom to vote for, but we do tell them about the platforms that best align with the values of the church and needs of our communities.”

John P. Tuman, professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, observes that in Las Vegas, Latino evangelicals who join larger evangelical churches that have English and Spanish services tend to skew conservative. However, in communities that form their own congregations and conduct services in Spanish and Otomi, an Indigenous language in Mexico, are likely to have more diverse political views.

“They tend to be historically in favor of immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship, along with other elements of a social justice message that resonates more with Democratic candidates,” he said.

Nevada is also a key swing state.

Pastor Willie Pagan, who leads the 700-strong Iglesia de Dios in North Las Vegas that falls under the Church of God, said the economy is a top issue for his congregants.

“Yes, people are worried about immigration, but those who are here already, they want the economy to be stable,” he said. “They see homelessness and crime growing in Las Vegas. Our church was in a rough neighborhood that has gotten rougher recently.”

Pagan says some in his congregation believe they were better off financially and safer during the Trump administration, and wish to vote Republican to uphold their conservative religious values. But there are also those who fear they or their loved ones could get deported, he said.

“The struggle is real.”
___



Janett Laguna prays prior to services at Casa de Adoracion, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Chris Coduto)


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Pastor Arturo Laguna speaks during services at Casa de Adoracion, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Chris Coduto)



Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

DEEPA BHARATH
Bharath is a reporter with AP’s Global Religion team. She is based in Los Angeles.
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'Wild week': Analysis finds Trump Media stock plummeting amid NYC rally fallout

Kathleen Culliton

RAW STORY
October 30, 2024 

(Shutterstock.com)

Former President Donald Trump's eponymous media company saw stock prices plummet Wednesday amid blowback from the racist rhetoric at his New York City rally, a new analysis found

Trump Media stocks are on track for their largest daily decrease since April — when news broke its main asset Truth Social had lost about $58 million in 2023, Barron's reported.

"The stock may keep oscillating in what has already been a wild week," Barrons reported.

Trump Media trading was halted repeatedly Tuesday after shares swung from 14 percent gains to 3 percent declines, Barron's reported.

The stock, which trades under the ticker DJT, fell 21 percent to $40.84 on Wednesday, according to the Barron's analysis of Dow Jones Market Data.

"The price swings have little to do with the company’s fundamentals–its sales are minuscule for a company of its market value," wrote Brian Swint. "But traders can make money from its volatility."

Barron's noted Trump Media stock prices are often seen as a measure of the Republican presidential nominee's chances of winning the upcoming election.

"It’s unclear what might happen to DJT if Trump loses the election," Swint wrote. "He said he’s not ready to pare his stake yet, but if his political career ends next week, it’s hard to see how the company could be sustained."

Trump this week has faced condemnation for his rally in Madison Square Garden where a comedian called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage", spurred public outcry and potentially lost him a key swing state.

"If you shift just 10 or 15,000 votes of Puerto Ricans away from Donald Trump and back to Kamala Harris, you put her in a very strong position to win," former Republican strategist Mike Madrid said this week.

"Can Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez and Geraldo Rivera and Ricky Martin do that? I think they probably can."

Trump Media stock plummets 22% after five-week surge

Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, suffered a 22.3% drop in share price Wednesday, costing majority shareholder former President Donald Trump $1.3 billion in net worth. DJT stock fell from $51.51 a share Tuesday to $40.03 at Wednesday's close. File Photo by Will Oliver/EPA-EFE

Oct. 30 (UPI) -- After a weeks-long stock surge put Truth Social's value at more than Elon Musk's platform X, formerly known as Twitter, former President Donald Trump lost $1.3 billion of net worth Wednesday after the stock plummeted.

Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group's share price dropped 22.3% Wednesday in its worst one-day loss since going public in March.

Trump -- the Republican presidential nominee -- owns nearly 57% of Trump Media, which trades as DJT on the Nasdaq. DJT stock fell from $51.51 a share on Tuesday to $40.03 by the end of trading Wednesday.

Before Wednesday's drop, Trump Media stock had quadrupled in value in the last five weeks since Sept. 23.

On Monday, traders attributed the stock surge to bets that Trump will win the White House in next week's election.

By Wednesday's close, traders blamed the selloff on a loss of momentum for the meme stock, which has gained viral popularity.

Meme stocks are defined as securities that do not trade on fundamentals, but rather hype and expectations. Trump Media had not released any news or numbers that would have caused the stock to nosedive.

In April, Trump Media stock plummeted after the Truth Social app revealed it recorded a net loss of more than $52 million last year on scant revenues of $4 million.

Despite the volatile nature of the stock, Trump has vowed not to sell his shares.

'Weird and desperate': Critics laugh as Trump rides in MAGA-branded garbage truck

PUERTO RICO IS NOT A GARBAGE DUMP!!

Matthew Chapman
October 30, 2024 

RAW STORY

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada, U.S. October 11, 2024. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

Former President Donald Trump engaged in a bizarre stunt ahead of his rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday: riding around in a garbage truck with his campaign logo printed on the side of it.

The truck was meant to draw attention to the campaign's grievance over President Joe Biden supposedly referring to Trump's supporters as "garbage" on a campaign call Tuesday evening. There is some dispute over what he said, and the White House has sought to clarify the "garbage" he referred to was the rhetoric of right-wing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage" at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally. The joke outraged many and sent the GOP into panic mode.

Trump delighted in his exhibition, speaking to reporters as he played with the truck while dressed in an orange safety vest.

“250 million people are not garbage,” he said. It's unclear where he got that number, which is more than three times the number of people who voted for him in 2020.

MAGA commentators on social media loved the stunt, proclaiming Trump a genius — but commenters on the left laughed at Trump and wondered why he insisted on dragging out a controversy that appeared to be hurting him.


"Hold the f--- on… did Donald Trump actually cosplay as a garbage man, in an actual f---ing garbage truck, while taking questions from the press about the speaker at HIS rally, who said Puerto Rico was garbage?" wrote political commentator "JoJoFromJerz."

"As Americans are outraged by someone at his rally who compared Puerto Rico to garbage, Trump thought it would be cute to take questions from a gigantic garbage truck," wrote progressive reporter Aaron Rupar.

"It takes some real 'let’s just do it and be legends' thinking to stick Trump in a damn garbage truck," wrote national security attorney Bradley Moss. He added, "I’m sorry, everyone else saw him straight up miss the door handle and nearly fall over, right?"


"Donald Trump, in an orange vest sitting in a garbage truck (?), says he doesn't know anything about Tony Hinchcliffe, the comedian who told horribly racist jokes at his disastrous rally at Madison Square Garden. All of this is super weird & desperate," wrote commentator Art Candee.

"Trump, shortly before calling Kamala Harris unwell, nearly busted his ass while trying to get in a garbage truck," wrote "Right Wing Cope," an account dedicated to compiling embarrassing moments for the GOP. "The stable genius is stable geniusing again."

Watch a video of the rally below or at this link.

  

Morning Joe laughs off Trump world's meltdown over 'garbage' comment

Tom Boggioni
October 30, 2024

RAW STORY

Joe Scarborough, Jonathan Lemire (MSNBC screenshoit)

On Wednesday morning, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough laughed off the meltdown Donald Trump and his supporters are having over comments made by President Joe Biden that they believe labeled all of his followers as garbage.

The segment kicked off with "Morning Joe" regular Jonathan Lemire reporting on Trump and Fox News trying to make hay out of the comment which Biden asserted later was aimed solely at the Madison Square Garden rally comedian who smeared Puerto Rico and created a firestorm for the Trump campaign which has been in damage control ever since.

As Lemire explained, "The president said something and immediately tried to clarify it, Joe, but certainly a story on the right who are trying to paint this to be the next basket of deplorables."

A laughing Scarborough replied, "Well, of course. Donald Trump says shocking things every day on Fox News and all of his apologists in the Republican Party immediately go to it and brush it off and explain it away or just completely ignore it."

"Here, they are trying to make a firestorm out of something that, again, if you look at it, you see what he said immediately afterward, which Donald Trump didn't say, and he said I was talking about the comedian and people who support that kind of talk," he elaborated.

"Joe Biden obviously doesn't believe that," the MSNBC host insisted. "I forget what state it was in but it was during a hurricane –– after a hurricane I believe –– and Joe Biden went in and he went in and talked to the crowd. Went and talked to a big Trump supporter and joked with him and put the hat on him. And again, trying to bring people together and even saying, 'Hey, I'll wear your Trump cap. We are on the same team.' That is the type of leadership you want."

Watch the video below or at this link.

Trump rides in ‘big, beautiful’ MAGA garbage truck after Biden attack on his supporters

ByVictor Nava andAnna Young

NEW YORK POST

 A MURDOCH  PAPER ENDORSES TRUMP

Published Oct. 30, 2024

Former President Donald Trump was greeted at a Wisconsin airport Wednesday by a “big, beautiful MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN Garbage Truck.”

“How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump, who was wearing an orange safety vest, asked reporters while sitting in the passenger seat of the MAGA-adorned garbage truck cruising around the tarmac.

“This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”

The custom garbage truck was waiting for Trump on the tarmac as he landed in Wisconsin.AP

Trump speaks to the media at Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport.Getty Images

The stunt comes one day after President Biden, 81, referred to Trump supporters as “garbage” on a campaign call at the White House, denouncing comments made by comic Tony Hinchcliffe, in which he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at the Republican nominee’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Biden said during a call with Voto Latino Group, as Vice President Kamala Harris rallied at the nearby Ellipse in Washington, DC, pressing how the Democratic Party would unify the country.

Republicans blasted the insult and drew immediate comparisons to then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s remark in 2016 that half of Trump’s supporters should be “put into the basket of deplorables.”

Trump prepares to hold a press conference from inside garbage track.Getty Images

Biden and the White House tried to temper the comment by editing the official transcript to put an apostrophe in “supporters” — suggesting the president was referring solely to Hinchcliffe.

The commander in chief also tried to walk back the jab on X, writing, “his demonizations of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say.”

The Harris-Walz campaign also rushed out an ad tying Hinchliffe’s comment to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, in which Harris narrated: “I will never forget what Donald Trump did. He abandoned the island and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”

Trump has since distanced himself from Hinchcliffe, who drew widespread, bipartisan backlash after his opening.

When asked if he owes Puerto Rico an apology, Trump, while sitting in the garbage truck, claimed he didn’t know “anything about a comedian” and then professed his “love” of the Caribbean Island.

Biden labeled Trump supporters as “garbage” at an event on Monday.  AP

“Nobody has done more for Puerto Rico than me. I took care of them when they had the big hurricanes. Nobody gets along better with Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican people than me. They love me and I love them,” he said.

“I don’t know anything about the comedian. I don’t know who he is. I heard he made a statement but it’s a statement that he made. He’s a comedian. What can I tell you? You put comedians up, and I guess he went on early in the show.”

Hinchcliffe has since defended his controversial remark, insisting it was a joke.

The garbage truck is following the motorcade enroute to Trump’s Green Bay rally, where the former president will speak later tonight.

Argentina's Milei fires foreign minister over vote to end US embargo on Cuba

Argentina's President Javier Milei dismissed Foreign Minister Diana Mondino after Argentina supported a UN resolution to lift the US embargo on Cuba. This marks the first time under Milei's leadership that Argentina diverged from US and Israeli positions, with only these two nations who opposed the resolution.

Issued on: 31/10/2024 -

Argentina's Foreign Minister Diana Mondino, January 26, 2024. 

© Agustin Marcarian, Reuters

President Javier Milei on Wednesday sacked Argentina's Foreign Minister Diana Mondino after the country voted at the UN in favor of lifting the six-decade US embargo on Cuba, the presidency said.

"The new foreign minister of Argentina is Mr. Gerardo Werthein," presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni wrote on X, hours after Argentina joined 186 other UN members who voted in favor of lifting the embargo imposed on communist-run Cuba since 1962.

Werthein was previously Argentina's ambassador to the United States.

Only two countries, the United States and Israel, both allies of Milei, voted against Wednesday's resolution, while one country, Moldova, abstained.

Moments after Mondino's sacking was announced, Milei retweeted a post by a lawmaker who said she was "proud of a government that does not support nor is an accomplice to dictators. Viva #CubaLibre."

Argentina has traditionally voted against the embargo on Cuba.

Local media quoted foreign ministry sources as saying that while it was awkward diplomatically for Argentina to have opposed the US and Israel, the votes of Cuba and its allies would be needed in any future resolutions on Argentina's claim of sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, a British territory.

(AFP)

Gender gap: How the US election is becoming a battle of the sexes

EXPLAINER

The 2024 US election is shaping up to be one marked by a significant gender divide: while Donald Trump holds a significant advantage with the male electorate, Kamala Harris commands a comparable lead among women. As both candidates seek to mobilise possible voters, the stakes for women have never been higher.


Issued on: 30/10/2024 -
By: Lara BULLENS

AFP

Supporters wait for the start of a Democratic campaign rally in Washington DC on October 29, 2024. © Kent Nishimura, Getty Images via AFP


Word of a grassroots campaign began to spread on social media late last month. Post-it notes encouraging voters to cast a ballot for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris were found stuck on the backs of toilet stalls, tampon boxes and diaper bags. Each message varied slightly, but most began with a conspiratorial appeal: “Woman to woman”, they read, before adding: “No one sees your vote at the polls” and then signing off with “Harris/Walz 2024”.

Now, ready-made sticky notes endorsing the Democratic ticket are even available for sale on Amazon.

While nobody knows who initiated the viral campaign, the Post-its are targeting women in Republican areas of the US, the so-called red states. It is part of a last-ditch effort to whisper to right-leaning female voters who fear reprisals from their husbands should they choose not to vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Poll after poll has found a gaping gender gap in the 2024 US presidential election. Though more women supporting Democrats than Republicans is not a new phenomenon, the gender gap has grown over recent decades – especially among young voters.


With only one week to go until Election Day and an extremely tight race ahead, a whisper campaign could be enough to tip either candidate over the finish line.
Micro-targeting to fight the odds

“The margins are too small … So one or two points is huge. It does not sound huge, but it is,” said Ellen Kountz, author of “Vice Presidential Portraits: The Incredible Story of Kamala Harris” and dean of the finance department at the INSEEC business school.

Hence the Post-it campaign. Kountz explained that such “micro-targeting” – when Democrat or Republican campaigners zoom in on a specific group of electors they feel are on the fence – can be very efficient. “Joe Biden won with 11,000 votes in Georgia,” Kountz recalled of the 2020 election that saw the current Democratic president take over the White House.

Efforts to sway Republic women to vote for Harris were on full display when Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney toured with the vice president, encouraging conservative suburban women to snub Trump.

“You can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody,” Cheney told crowds on the second of three events in Michigan on October 21.

Read moreRepublican Liz Cheney rallies with Harris, urges voters to reject Trump's 'cruelty'

Quinnipiac University polling done throughout October in five key swing states showed Harris leading significantly among female voters while Trump held the same advantage among male voters.

“The women’s vote will be decisive this election,” Katherine Tate, a political science professor at Brown University, shared in a recent panel on what to expect on Election Day.

“If Harris wins, it will because women elected her,” Tate added.

There is also the question of voter turnout. Women have consistently registered and voted at higher rates than men in every presidential election since 1980, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.

So far, women are outpacing men in early turnout. According to Politico and data from the University of Florida’s United States Election Project, there is so far a 10-point gender gap in early voting in Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. And this holds true across the political spectrum: Republican women are also voting early.

The Harris camp has expressed optimism over the gender makeup of early voting and is now focusing on convincing moderate suburban women as well as non-college-educated White women in the final days of the campaign. The hope, it seems, is that these women will turn out en masse the way they did in the 2022 midterm elections.

“There are two gender gaps. One is related to presidential preferences, with women more likely to support the Democratic ticket and men more likely to support the Republican ticket. But then there is a huge gap in the last 20 years or so with women turning out in more consistent and higher rates [to vote],” said Susanne Schwarz, professor of political science at Swarthmore College.

“I think we will see a record turnout of women for this election. We have already seen a record number of young women registering to vote. The gender gap in turnout is probably going to widen in this election,” Schwarz added.
Widening divide among young voters

The gender divide across political lines in the US is particularly stark among young voters. It is a surprising trend, given that the majority of young people voted for Biden in the previous election – regardless of gender.

Some 66 percent of women ages 18 to 39 said they were likely to vote for Harris in an ABC/Ipsos poll published on October 27 compared to only 32 percent for Trump. But only 46 percent of men from the same age bracket planned to vote for Harris and 51 percent for Trump.

A gap of this size for young people did not exist a generation ago, let alone an election ago.

It is partly explained by a broader trend of young women becoming more progressive than their male counterparts, recent research has revealed. A recent Gallup poll found that young women in the United States have become significantly more liberal than young men since Trump was elected in 2016.

Read moreUS elections explainer: The seven battleground states to watch in 2024

Young women’s ideological shift to the left can be explained by a multitude of factors. The #MeToo movement in 2017 put a spotlight on sexual violence and harassment. Women became more galvanised politically over the years too, especially after Roe v Wade was overturned in June 2022, putting an end to women’s federal right to abortion. And their liberalism has also been reflected in their stances on the environment, unease with lax gun laws and race relations, according to Gallup.

“On average, we see women endorsing a little more community-oriented, social programme-oriented platforms and candidates who display that. Whereas Trump has been very good at tapping into this long tradition of individualism in the US, promising that he will lift you up,” Schwarz said.

On the other hand, young men “often feel like if they ask questions they are labelled as misogynist, homophobic or racist” and then they “get sucked into a 'bro-culture'” as a result, John Della Volpe, the director of polling at the Harvard Institute of Politics, told BBC News.

But what this could mean for this year’s election outcome is unclear, Schwarz said. “It depends on the turnout rate among young voters … They are the group who are least likely to turn out,” she noted.
Shifting gender roles and masculinity

Trump has cast himself as a vengeful protector ahead of the 2024 presidential election. “I am your warrior. I am your justice,” he declared at CPAC, the annual gathering for conservatives. At a late September campaign rally in Indiana, he told women, “I will be your protector,” adding that they will be “happy, healthy, confident and free” and, as a result, will “no longer be thinking about abortion”.

His goal, some say, is to appeal to men who feel that traditional masculinity is under threat. And it seems those efforts – notably backed by billionaire Elon Musk – are resonating with male voters. According to a CBS News poll result released on October 27, men are more inclined to say efforts to promote gender equality have gone too far in the US.

This may be even more the case with young men who are shifting to the right of the political spectrum. New York Times reporter Claire Cain Miller recently interviewed young voters for The Daily podcast and found that a core driver in young men was wanting to provide for a family, and that many felt this is not possible in the current economy. Though they may not have families yet, being a provider seemed to strike at the core of their identity.

“I feel like you’re not a man until you have to take care of other people. Being able to financially and emotionally support those around you makes you a man,” 20-year-old Ranger Erwin, based in Las Vegas, told Miller.

01:47

Meanwhile, Harris is appealing to an entirely different form of masculinity. In contrast to the image of a hyper-masculine protector, Tim Walz, the vice presidential candidate, perfectly embodies the image of a kind and caring American dad.

“There is a new kind of male persona that is being put forward,” Kountz remarked. “Kamala is surrounded by strong men, but not macho men. Like Tim Waltz. He is a gun-toting hunter, but he is also No. 2 to a woman,” she said.

“I would almost say those are new gender roles. And the Republicans are doing an exaggerated, toxic and hyper masculinity, which I don’t think in the end is helpful for them,” Kountz said.

Harris is breaking traditional gender stereotypes in her own way. “A great example is Kamala and her gun,” Kountz said, referring to when Harris revealed she was a gun owner during the presidential debate on September 10.

“I don’t think people think of Black ladies with guns … It breaks gender codes.”

“We are conditioned to want to hold on to these traditional roles and ideas of gender, but a lot has moved,” Kountz pointed out. “Kamala does not even speak about being a woman.”

With such a close race, it is difficult to say which strategy will bear the most fruit. For Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who spoke to Vox in an interview on October 26, what is certain is that “the formula for victory is to win women by more than you lose men”.

‘She was on the front lines’: In California, friends remember a young Kamala Harris

Issued on: 28/10/2024

Video by:

Wassim CORNET

Kamala Harris may be a familiar face in Washington, but her roots run deep on the other side of the country, in California’s Bay Area. That’s where her early years and career laid the foundation for her political ascension. France 24’s Wassim Cornet traveled to the region to speak with some of the people who have known her the longest.

Sexual violence in war-torn Sudan on 'staggering' scale, UN probe finds

The scale of sexual violence being commited in Sudan is "staggering", said the chair of a UN fact finding mission in the war-torn country on Tuesday. The investigation found evidence of gang rapes, violence and sexual slavery being used as a means of "terrorising and punishing civilians".

Issued on: 29/10/2024 - 
Sudanese people, fleeing the conflict the Darfur region, cross the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 2, 2023. © Zohra Bensemra, Reuters


Rape is widespread in Sudan's civil war, a United Nations investigation said Tuesday, accusing paramilitaries especially of committing sexual violence on a "staggering" scale.

Children are not spared the abuse, with women and girls being abducted for sexual slavery, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said in a new report.

"There is no safe place in Sudan now," the investigation's chair Mohamed Chande Othman said.

War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army (SAF) under the country's de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.


It has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. More than 25 million people -- over half the population -- are facing acute hunger.
War crimes

The SAF, the RSF and their allied militias "have committed large-scale human rights and international humanitarian law violations, many of which may amount to war crimes and/or crimes against humanity", the mission concluded.

Displaced Sudanese arrive in Gedaref. More than 10 million people are internally displaced within war-torn Sudan © AFP

Both sides have engaged in torture amounting to war crimes and obstructed access to humanitarian aid, the mission said.

The report accused both sides of sexual violence, but said the RSF was behind the "large majority" of documented cases.

The mission said the RSF was responsible for "sexual violence on a large scale", including "gang-rapes and abducting and detaining victims in conditions that amount to sexual slavery".

It also said the RSF and its allies had indulged in "abduction, and recruitment and use of children in hostilities", amid systematic looting and pillaging.
Rape, terror and punishment

"The sheer scale of sexual violence we have documented in Sudan is staggering," said Othman, a former chief justice of Tanzania.

Such abuses were "part of a pattern aimed at terrorising and punishing civilians for perceived links with opponents," and suppressing any opposition to their military advances, the mission said.

In the western Darfur region, sexual violence was committed "with particular cruelty, with firearms, knives and whips".

The report said: "First-hand sources informed of rape of girls as young as eight years and women as old as 75."

Victims were often subjected to "punching, beatings with sticks and lashing, before and during the rape", with sexual violence often occurring in the presence of the victims' relatives.

The mission said they had received credible information "about rape and gang-rape of men and boys".

UN rights chief Volker Turk said Tuesday that escalating hostilities in Sudan's eastern al-Jazira state were further exacerbating the risk of atrocities.

Turk's office said it had documented at least 25 cases of sexual violence in RSF attacks on Sharq Al-Jazira villages, including an 11-year-old girl who died as a result, while women and girls were abducted.

His spokesman Seif Magango told reporters that those responsible should be brought to justice "to break this horrendous cycle of violence".
14 million displaced

UN migration agency chief Amy Pope said the situation in Sudan was "catastrophic" and deserved greater attention.

Members of Sudan's security forces take part in the opening ceremony of a headquarter facility in the army-controlled Port Sudan on October 28, 2024. © AFP

"Sudan is easily the most neglected crisis in the world today," she told a Geneva press briefing, speaking from Port Sudan.

"All wars are brutal, but the toll of this one is particularly horrifying... A generation will live in the shadow of trauma."

Her agency's latest figures released Tuesday show that there are more than 11 million internally displaced people within Sudan -- 8.3 million of whom fled their homes since the conflict erupted.

Some 3.1 million more people have fled the country since April last year.

"More than half of those displaced are women, and more than a quarter of them are children under the age of five," said Pope.

T

wo young boys cross the border between Chad and Sudan at the Koufroun refugee camp. © Joris Bolomey, AFP

More than 200,000 people have fled their homes since September, she added.

Despite the scale of displacement, the UN migration agency's appeal for $168 million has only got a fifth of those funds.

"With the proper amount of funding, there is much we can do to alleviate the suffering," said Pope.

(AFP)

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Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape - Frauenkultur

... Against. Our Will. Men, Women and Rape. SUSAN BROWNMILLER. Fawcett Columbine • New York. Page 5. Sale of this book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If ...

Nepali women's flowering prosperity from garland industry

Agence France-Presse
October 30, 2024 

A woman arranges garlands made of globe amaranth in Nepal's Gundu village, where the flower industry has provided a flourishing local industry (AFP)

The flower fields of Nepal's Gundu village glimmer yellow, orange and purple as women harvest blooms, a flourishing industry changing tough village lives by providing garlands for Hindu festivals.

Nestled on the rim of Kathmandu Valley, Gundu is renowned for supplying the brightly-colored globe amaranth and marigold flowers, with demand surging for this week's Tihar celebrations, also known as Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.

At dawn, the village women gather in the fields to harvest the blooms, that will, by the day's end, be woven into garlands to adorn homes and temples.

The women of Gundu have turned this seasonal bloom into a thriving industry, despite a labour-intensive process of picking and weaving them into garlands.

"This has provided more jobs for women of our village," said flower farmer Saraswoti Bista, 56.

"We don't have to leave home, and by weaving garlands, we earn a good income," she added.


- Flourishing -

Nepal, a majority-Hindu Himalayan nation, has a GDP per capita of $1,324, according to the World Bank.

The flourishing trade has transformed Gundu into a model for flower production, with nearly 500 households supplying over one million garlands every year, generating over $133,000, according to the local village authority.

As the festival peaks, garlands spill from rooftops and porches, filling the village with vibrant purple, red, and orange, a floral hub in Nepal.

The dramatic deep purple-colored globe amaranth, known in Nepal as makhmali, is in special demand during the five-day festival of Tihar.

The dried blooms can last for months -- or even years -- with proper care.


The garlands are given by sisters to their brothers on the fifth day of Tihar, as a symbolic offering wishing for their long life.

Nepal produced an estimated 2.5 million garlands of globe amaranth flowers in 2024, a 10 percent increase since last year, according to the Floriculture Association Nepal.

"It also supplies to different countries," said flower association representative Dilip Bade.


The country is set to export 200,000 garlands, valued at $1.4 million, to the United States, Australia, South Korea, Japan, and Europe, according to the floriculture association.

But while the flower industry is blossoming, heavy flooding worsened by climate change hit the floriculture sector hard, resulting in estimated losses of over $1.1 million.

© Agence France-Presse

'Bear the burden': CEOs warn major price hikes already planned to offset Trump tariffs

Kathleen Culliton
October 30, 2024 

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., September 26, 2024. REUTERS/David Dee Delgado

A slew of businesses across the U.S. say they're preparing to spike prices should former President Donald Trump regain the White House in 2025, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Companies that rely on foreign suppliers for baby products, auto parts and clothing — to name just a few — say the only way to survive Trump's promised tariffs on foreign imports will be to offload the cost on consumers, according to the report.

“We’re set to raise prices,” Timothy Boyle, chief executive of Columbia Sportswear, told the Post. “It’s going to be very, very difficult to keep products affordable for Americans."
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The Post reported that Trump's pledged tariffs would be the heaviest since the 1930s and could reach up to 60 percent on Chinese products.

While Trump claimed foreign companies will pay the tariffs, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency demands American purchasers pay when their products enter the country, according to the Post.

Investors in AutoZone — an auto parts retailer that sources supplies from China , India and Germany — received word this month that consumers will be asked to pay the increase, the Post reported.

“We know what the tariffs will be ,” Philip Daniele, CEO of AutoZone, reportedly said. “We generally raise prices ahead of that.”

An analysis by the nonpartisan Budget Lab at Yale University also contradicts Trump's claim that foreign entities will bear the financial burden of his tariffs, the Post reported.

“A consistent theoretical and empirical finding in economics is that domestic consumers and domestic firms bear the burden of a tariff, not the foreign country,” the study stated.

According to the Washington Post, Stanley Black & Decker CEO Donald Allan told investors this year the company would likely offset tariffs with “some surgical price actions."